Posts categorised: Podcasts

The Curriculum podcast

The Curriculum is a podcast that features news, tips and useful information for UK-based primary school leaders and teachers. It comes from the team here at Cornerstones, the people behind our own creative curriculum, which is used in more than 2000 UK primary schools.

Got plans to improve or reimagine your school’s curriculum? Looking for new ideas that you can use in the classroom? Want to stay up to date with what’s happening in primary education? Then The Curriculum is for you.

We know that you are busy. That’s why every episode is super short – around 15 minutes – so that you can squeeze it into a quick coffee break or short commute. Episodes are focused on specific topics, so you can pick and choose the ones that are most relevant to you.

While our team are on hand to share their experience and expertise, The Curriculum also features a range of special guests. That includes school leaders, teachers and others working in primary education. It’s great to hear them share their own perspectives, ideas and experiences too.

How to listen

Every episode of The Curriculum podcast is embedded in a blog post on this site. You can browse the ‘podcast’ category to check out those posts and listen to previous shows. However, most people access and listen to episodes by subscribing in a podcast app on their smartphone.

Subscribe to the show

Subscribing means new episodes will download to your podcast app of choice. It means you don’t have to remember or search for new content and you can listen whenever and wherever you want. Basically, when we publish a new show, up it pops in your app and away you go.

If you’re new to podcasts, the most popular way to subscribe is through the Apple Podcasts app or iTunes on your laptop or desktop computer. If you use an Android device, we can recommend Pocket Casts.

Episode 13 of The Curriculum explores the place and importance of science in the primary curriculum, with host Melanie Moore talking to Dr Fran Barnes, expert in primary science and author of the Love to Investigate series. Issues explored include the importance of science, how to overcome barriers to teaching science and teacher expertise.

Episode 12 of The Curriculum is the second episode with special guest, Hywel Roberts. He talks about his ‘Imagineering’ work with schools and how this pedagogy can set teachers imaginations free to create exciting learning. It’s fascinating to hear Hywel talk us through his ideas, so it’s a big thank you to him for joining us on the show for the second time.

Episode 11 of The Curriculum explores The Six Steps of Curriculum Design™ with Cornerstones Education Consultant Janet Carroll. In this episode Janet talks about the importance of curriculum principles, breadth and balance, planning and resourcing.

Episode 10 of The Curriculum is the first of three episodes we’ve recorded with special guest, Hywel Roberts. He talks about his journey in education, including some of the people who have inspired him along the way and his own philosophy on teaching. It’s absolutely fascinating to hear Hywel talk us through his career so far, so a big thank you to him for joining us on the show.

Episode 9 of The Curriculum podcast follows up on last week’s introduction to SMSC and fundamental British values. This time we focus specifically on the ‘cultural’ part of SMSC. We look at how Ofsted refers to it, what it means for schools and how school leaders and teachers can build the cultural aspects of SMSC into their curriculum.

Episode 8 of The Curriculum podcast provides an introduction to teaching children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development (SMSC), and fundamental British values (FBV). We cover what those things mean, their impact on children’s learning, and how schools can make sure they cover the requirements set out by Ofsted.

Episode 7 of The Curriculum podcast is here and it features a fantastic interview with Lyn McNamara, who has more than 25 years of experience working in education. Topics include defining what a curriculum should be and do, the importance of literacy running through a curriculum, and the impact a broad and balanced curriculum can have on a school.

Episode 6 of our new podcast – The Curriculum – is available now and features an interview with Anthony Robinson, an RQT at Farmilo Primary School. Anthony talks about his experience of curriculum design and how Farmilo’s approach has given him the autonomy to be creative and inspire children through imagination.

We had two special guests join us for episode five of our podcast for school leaders and teachers, The Curriculum. Adam Newman is Curriculum Lead and Anthony Robinson a Year 3 RQT at Farmilo Primary School in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. They talk about curriculum design and how the decisions they’ve made are having a positive impact on their school.